Falcons Fly Early, Hold Off Donuts for Ninth Home Win In Their Last Ten Games

 FORT ERIE — The Fort Erie Falcons came out firing on all cylinders Friday night, burying three goals in a span of just under four minutes in the first period and never looking back en route to a 5–2 win over the visiting Wisborg Donuts.

The Falcons, who outshot Wisborg 48–24, dominated the opening twenty minutes, forcing Donuts goaltender Filip Gustavsson into a barrage of early saves. Fort Erie finally broke through on a power play at 12:03 when Sam Reinhart tipped home his 18th of the year off a slick feed from Dylan Strome.

Just nine seconds later, Mark Stone doubled the lead, jumping on a rebound from Jake Walman’s point shot. The crowd at the Fort Erie Arena had barely settled when Valeri Nichushkin made it 3–0 at 15:59, finishing a beautiful passing play with Vincent Trocheck and Thomas Harley.

Wisborg managed to stem the bleeding late in the period when Adrian Kempe scored on the power play, blasting a one-timer off a David Pastrnak feed at 16:20 to cut the deficit to 3–1.

The Donuts showed more life in the second period, outshooting Fort Erie 14–9, but the Falcons’ top guns answered every push. Owen Power scored his third of the season with a seeing-eye wrister through traffic at 9:01, and Leon Draisaitl added a power-play marker at 12:26, rifling a shot over Gustavsson’s glove to make it 5–1.

Pastrnak would strike back at 16:59, finishing a smooth passing sequence with Kempe and Ryan McDonagh, but that was as close as Wisborg would get. Despite several power-play chances in the third period, the Donuts couldn’t solve Mackenzie Blackwood, who finished with 22 saves for his 19th win of the year.

Gustavsson was under siege all night, stopping 43 of 48 shots in the loss, dropping his record to 10–5–1.

Three Stars:

1. Leon Draisaitl (FOR) – 1 G, 1 A, commanding presence on special teams

2. Sam Reinhart (FOR) – 1 G, 1 A, opened the scoring and led the charge

3. David Pastrnak (WIS) – 1 G, 1 A, spark for Wisborg’s attack

Notable Stat:
Fort Erie fired 25 shots in the first period alone — more than Wisborg managed all game.